“Endogenous” and “Neurotic” Syndromes of Depression: A 5-to 7-Year Follow-up of 104 Cases

The present article concerns the follow up of this sample of 104 depressed patients, 5–7 years after the index admission, to study the power of various individual features to predict the course and outcome of the illness.

Abstract

In a previous paper (Kay et al ., 1969) the mode of selection and composition of a sample of 104 depressed patients was described. The present article concerns the follow up of this sample, 5–7 years after the index admission (which was always a first admission). The aims were: ( i ) To examine and compare outcome in three groups of patients, “endogenous”, “neurotic”, and “undifferentiated”, ( ii ) The second aim was to study the power of various individual features to predict the course and outcome of the illness. The patients' groups were defined by the factor scores on a first (bipolar) factor which was identifiable in many though not all respects with the “endogenous-neurotic” factor previously described by Kiloh and Garside (1963) and by Carney, Roth and Garside (1965). A full account of the symptoms defining the factor, which was obtained by principal components analysis, and of the method of allocating patients to the diagnostic groupings, was given in the previous paper.